Insights Daily Current Affairs, 15 November 2017

Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Hunar Haat

Context:

The fourth Hunar Haat exhibition was recently organised by the Ministry of Minority Affairs at India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Hunar Haats:

What are they?

Hunar Haats are organised by Ministry of Minority Affairs under USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme. The USTTAD scheme aims at preserving & promoting the rich heritage of the traditional arts & crafts of the Minority communities. This is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry.

Significance of Hunar Haats:

Hunar Haats have become a successful mission to provide employment and income generation opportunities with platforms for marketing the products of master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts belonging to the minority communities.

It envisages at boosting the skill of craftsmen, weavers and artisans who are already engaged in the traditional ancestral work

Sources: pib.

GS Paper 2:

Topic: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Accessible India Campaign

Context:

On the occasion of Children’s Day, the winners of ‘Drawing and Painting Competition on Accessible India Campaign’ were awarded at a felicitation event organised by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) under M/o Social Justice and Empowerment.

About Accessible India Campaign:

What is it?

Accessible India Campaign (AIC) is the nationwide flagship campaign of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Aim:

The aim of the Campaign is to make a barrier free and conducive environment for Divyangjans all over the country. The campaign has the vision to build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) so that they can lead productive, safe and dignified lives.

Implementation:

For creating universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, the campaign has been divided into three verticals: Built Environment; Transport and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) ecosystem.

The Built Environment Accessibility component of Accessible India Campaign entails following targets:

(i) Completing accessibility audit of at least 25-50 most important government buildings in 50 cities and making them fully accessible by the end of this year;

(ii) Making 50% of all the government buildings of NCT and all the State capitals fully accessible by December 2018;

(iii) Completing accessibility audit of 50% of government buildings and making them fullyaccessible in 10 most important cities/towns of States not covered in targets (i) and (ii) by December 2019.

Facts for Prelims:

Accessible India Campaign is in line with the Article 9 of UNCRPD(UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to which India is a signatory since 2007. The scheme also comes under Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 provides for equal Opportunities and protection of rights and non-discrimination in Transport to Persons with Disabilities.

Sources: pib.

Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Bill banning superstitious practices tabled

The much-delayed and hotly debated Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, 2017, popularly known as the ‘Anti-Superstition Bill’, was recently tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The Bill, if cleared by the State legislature, is expected to put an end to various inhuman practices.

Miracles of the deceased saints propagation, publicity and circulation of the same and the propagation, publicity and distribution of literature about miracles of the religious preachers which do not cause physical injury.

Performance of prayers, upasana and religious rituals at home, temple, darghas, gurdwara, pagoda, church, and other religious places which do not cause physical injury.

All religious celebrations, festivals, prayers, procession and other act relating other rituals.

Piercing of ears and nose of children in accordance with rituals and performance of religious ritual such as Kesh Lochan by the Jains.

Advice in regard to vaastu shasthra, and advice by jyothishya and other astrologers.

Context: A Curtain Raiser Event for the Founding Ceremony of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was recently held at Bonn, Germany.

About the International Solar Alliance (ISA):

What is it?

The ISA is a treaty-based alliance of 121 prospective solar-rich Member Nations situated fully or partially between the Tropics, and aims at accelerating development and deployment of solar energy globally.

When it was launched?

The ISA was jointly launched on 30 November 2015 by Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and then-President of France, H.E. François Hollande, on the side lines of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties 21 (CoP21) at Paris, France.

Significance of ISA:

More than 120 countries are geographically located in the tropics, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, either fully or partially. These places get ample sunlight throughout the year, making solar energy an easily available resources.

These countries also happen to be ones where maximum growth in energy demand is expected in the coming years, considering that these are areas where current production is woefully short of requirement.

The ISA is an effort to ensure that as these countries rapidly ramp up their electricity production, they should predominantly use solar energy and avoid fossil fuels.

Way ahead:

ISA will become a treaty-based international intergovernmental organisation on 6 December 2017. 44 countries have already signed the ISA treaty, and many more are set to join.

Xth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) has begun at Kathmandu. More than 200 participants including ministers, members of parliaments, ambassadors, government officials, eminent experts and thinkers attending the summit.

The theme of the summit is “Deepening Economic Integration for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in South Asia”.

About SAES:

What is it?

Started in 2008, South Asia Economic Summit is like Davos- World Economic Forum event in South Asia. It is a regional platform for discussing and analyzing economic and development issues and challenges faced by South Asian countries and advancing the cause of regional integration and cooperation.

What it does?

It brings together stakeholders from the government, private sector, research, academics and civil society to generate innovative and actionable ideas for consideration by the region’s policymakers and SAARC.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the aegis of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology organizing the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) Conference from November 12-15, 2017 in New Delhi. This is the 15th Conference of APCERT and first ever conference in India and South Asia and will be attended by 21 economies.

This conference would cover contemporary topics around strategies of CERTs, Technology and Instruments for building trust in digitally evolving economies and best practices for handling cyber security in mobile and social media.

The conference theme is “Building Trust in the Digital Economy”.

About APCERT:

What is it?

APCERT (Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team) is a coalition of CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams), from 13 economies across the Asia Pacific region. APCERT organizes an annual meeting called APSIRC conference, and the first conference was held in March 2002, Tokyo, Japan.

Membership: Any CSIRT from Asia Pacific Region, who is interested to furthering the objectives of APCERT, will be allowed to join as APCERT members after meeting all member accreditation requirements.

APCERT membership model has 2 levels:

Full members: Full Members are CSIRTs/CERTs in the Asia Pacific region, who have the right to vote on APCERT issues, as well as to stand for election to the APCERT Steering Committee. All Founding Members are Full Members.

General Members: Any CSIRTs/CERTs in the Asia Pacific region with an interest in incident response and IT security, can join APCERT as a General Member. General Members are not eligible to vote nor to stand for election to the APCERT Steering Committee. An applicant is required to join APCERT as a General Member first. After applicants obtain a General Member status, they can later apply to upgrade their membership to a Full Member status. General Membership is a pre-requisite to become a Full Member.

Facts for Prelims:

About CERT-In:

What is it?

CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) is a government-mandated information technology (IT) security organization. CERT-In was created by the Indian Department of Information Technology in 2004 and operates under the auspices of that department.

It’s purpose:

The purpose of CERT-In is to respond to computer security incidents, report on vulnerabilities and promote effective IT security practices throughout the country. According to the provisions of the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, CERT-In is responsible for overseeing administration of the Act.

Sources: pib.

Paper 3:

Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

National Power Portal(NPP)

Context: National Power Portal(NPP)- a Centralized Platform for Collation and Dissemination of Indian Power Sector Information, has been launched by the government.

About NPP:

What is it? NPP is a centralised system for Indian Power Sector which facilitates online data capture/ input (daily, monthly, annually) from generation, transmission and distribution utilities in the country and disseminate Power Sector Information (operational, capacity, demand, supply, consumption etc.) through various analysed reports, graphs, statistics for generation, transmission and distribution at all India, region, state level for central, state and private sector.

Key facts:

The NPP Dashboard has been designed and developed to disseminate analyzed information about the sector through GIS enabled navigation and visualization chart windows on capacity, generation, transmission, distribution at national, state, DISCOM, town, feeder level and scheme based funding to states.

The system also facilitates various types of statutory reports required to be published regularly.

The Dashboard would also act as the single point interface for all Power Sector Apps launched previously by the Ministry, like TARANG, UJALA, VIDYUT PRAVAH, GARV, URJA, MERIT.

NPP is integrated with associated systems of Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and other major utilities and would serve as single authentic source of power sector information to apex bodies, utilities for the purpose of analysis, planning, monitoring as well as for public users.

The Nodal Agency for implementation of NPP and its operational control is CEA. The systemhas been conceptualized, designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).

Sources: pib.

Topic: IPR.

Rasogolla hits sweet spot, gets GI tag

The Geographical Indication (GI) Registry and Intellectual Property India has presented the Geographical Indication Tag status to Banglar Rasogolla of West Bengal and Mamallapuram stone sculptures of Tamil Nadu.

The sculptures from Mamallapuram were known to be carved in stone with characteristics of intricate designing chiselled finely, keeping with the spirit of the surrounding Pallava art and architecture. The description includes cave architecture, rock architecture, structural temples, open sculptures, relief sculptures and painting/portrait sculptures.

Rasgolla: According to one of the documents submitted by West Bengal citing historical evidence, Rasogollas invented in the Nadia district of West Bengal are 60 years old (lower end time frame). Haradhan, a confectioner of village Phulia is named as the inventor. West Bengal has given half-a-dozen historical evidences to back its claim.

About GI tag:

What is it?

A GI is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicrafts and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.

Significance of a GI tag:

Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin.

Security:

Once the GI protection is granted, no other producer can misuse the name to market similar products. It also provides comfort to customers about the authenticity of that product.

Sources: the hindu.

Topic: Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

Sagar Kavach

What is it? It is a joint security exercise organized jointly by the governments of Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal.

Aim: It aims to further tighten the existing coastal security mechanism along the 630 km long coastline.

What it does? “Sagar Kavach security exercise is a realistic drill to check the efficacy of the security parameters and preparedness of various security forces like the Indian Navy, Marine police force, Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Forest Department, Fisheries and district administration.